I am a young Golden Retriever who was a homeless dog, I was moments away from being killed when I was rescued by Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR), given a foster home, then a forever home. I write this blog to inspire other dogs and humans to help find homes for abandoned dogs. My family takes in fosters now and I help homeless dogs find their way to forever homes. Write me at Mogley.retriever@gmail.com

Saturday, July 7, 2007

I left my friends at the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR) and went to a foster home today, I will keep in touch with my old friends the modern way, through a blog, after all I am a modern puppy and my foster parents leave the computer keyboard laying at puppy height. My new foster parents think I am very smart, if only they knew...

I heard Mary tell my new foster parents to give me daily medications, take care of me and make me happy till I find a forever home. It all sounds pretty good to me. Mary is the head of the rescue, and she looks after all of us homeless Goldens.

Life is different with my new foster parents than it was when I lived with Mary and her 12 friends. My foster parents picked me up at the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies on Saturday, July 29, 2007. They stopped at the pet store and bought me some new puppy food, this gave me a chance to show off to all the people in the store. I gave the customers a lesson in the meaning of “cute”, when that shar-pei puppy came in, I out cute-ed him in a minute. I got to pick out toys and treats. Everyone was giving me dog treats, what a racket; I think I need to go to the pet store more often.

When I got to my new house I learned I have to share it with a 24 month old female golden named Bella. She likes to play and has a lot of energy. She shares her toys well. When I ran into the house, I ran by the toy pile and filled my mouth with all that I could grab. I bet you did not know that my mouth can hold five toys at once. We soon had a tug-of-war game going. Bella is good at wrestling and I think we will be friends. A big golden named Buckley came by to play for a while. He lives at the Colorado State Capital during the week. He belongs to Mike Coffman, Colorado Secretary of State. He gets to ride into the State Capital every day and hang out with the folks in the office and take his potty breaks on the Capital Lawn. He is a big boy, very dark red and his coat looks like they brush him three times a day. He can’t run as fast as I can, I ran circles around him. But he is very strong when it comes to wrestling. He made a play date for tomorrow after I get settled.

My new house has a huge back yard, it has all kinds of trees, the apple trees are filled with squirrels, the grape vines smell like something called a “raccoon” but I could not find one in the daylight. The yard has a koi pond and a swimming pool. The back fence is tall chain link and it looks out on a park with dog paths on it. I barked at some of the dogs that came too close to my fence, I want to establish who is boss around here.

Bella and Buckley showed me how the dog doors work. There are two dog doors; I have to go into the garage first, then into the back yard. Dog doors are fun; I came and went several times just to show my humans that I am a fast learner. Now I can go out when ever I want, no accidents in the house! I can watch the back yard though the glass patio door and run out when ever I need to chase squirrels. The dogs in the park had better keep away from my fence.

I am glad I paid attention to my English lessons when I stayed at Mary’s house; she had different names for everything. There was a couch, a chair, a table, a plant and lots of other things. At my new home they call everything “no”. They have a nice couch and chair in a glassed-in front porch where Bella and I can lay and watch the world go by outside. The other couches and chairs in the house are all named “no”. Then I got bored the first night and picked up a potted plant and carried it all the way into the bedroom to play with it, they told me it was called a “no”. I jumped up on what Mary called a bed, hey immediately told me it was called a "no". Squeaky toys are called toys in the daytime, but at night they are called “no’s”. Even cat toys are called "no". It is very confusing.

They have two fuzzy things they sometimes call cats and sometimes they are called “no’s”. They said I would take “cat lessons”. The fuzzy white one ran when I chased it, that was lots of fun. The fuzzy black one would not run and swatted me on the nose. Not a very friendly thing to do to a new guest. Now even the white one swats and hisses at me. Very strange animals, they seem to ignore me except when I get close, then they hiss and swat at me. They get special privileges, they sit on the furniture and no one yells at them, their food sits out all day long, just out of my reach. I try bouncing on the couch or standing up to smell the food and the humans get mad. I think I will just leave the cats alone; they are not any fun to play with anyway.

The koi pond has these big floating leaves they call water lilies. They are fun to pull out and tear up. I have demolished the ones close to the edge; I will have to get in the pool to chew the rest of them. The big fish hide when I chew up the leaves, but they won’t be able to hide when the leaves are all gone. There is a lot of landscaping work for one puppy to do before this yard is ready to be in “Dogs Life” magazine.

My foster parents say they will give me swimming lessons so I know where the stairs are in the pool and in the pond so I can get out and I don’t drown in the pool. I am looking forward to that. They want my stitches to heal from my operation before I get in the pool.

It is very important that sweet little Mogley never ever find out what nearly happened to him. At only 6 months old, Mogley was brought to the shelter by his family to be euthanized. The reason they gave was that he had been diagnosed with a heart murmur. Mogley’s life was going to end right there in the shelter. In fact, the staff had already started to carry out the family’s instructions when the shelter manager happened to walk in. Mogley was on the table and had been given the initial sedation. She immediately asked why this was happening. When she heard the story, she had them wake him back up while she went to call Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR). She knew GRRR would want to try to help him by giving him a chance for a proper medical evaluation. Her timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Just a few seconds later Mogley would have been gone. A happy, bouncy puppy would have lost his life without a fighting chance. He would have never known the joy of a walk in the park or a hike in the mountains or a swim in a lake. He would have never known the commitment, security and unconditional love of a family who really treasured him.

Thanks to Marti Mills and her “rescue truck transport service,” Mogley was soon on his way to a loving foster home. Marti came back from southern Colorado hauling a precious cargo of Mogley and six other dogs. The four Golden’s were all happily wrestling in the back while her three shelter rescue kids rested quietly in the cab with her. Can’t you just imagine them all heading down the highway with their new friend, Marti, all bound for new homes?

Mogley was immediately evaluated by one of the best heart specialists, Dr. Loyer at VRCC, who confirmed Mogley has a heart condition called subaeortic stenosis. There is no medical treatment that can help him, and he isn’t expected to live beyond three years. What really matters is that he can pack a lot of happiness into those years if he can spend it with a loving family to call his own. And those three years is a lifetime he wouldn’t have had without our help.

Mogley is playful and happy and starts each morning with a smile and a wag. He eats well, knows how to have a good time and gets along great with other dogs. Would you like to be the person who becomes a real family to him? You’ll never find a more grateful and deserving Golden, and he has such a big heart and endearing personality. You can make his dreams come true and bring yourself a lot of happiness, too.

Mogley is wondering if you would like make a donation to help pay for his visit to the heart specialist and his medications. Although he will never know what almost happened to him, he will surely understand that all of us at GRRR – through our donations and determination -- loved and cared for him and gave him a new beginning. Every day of his life will be a gift – to him and to his new forever family.

Mogley has been writing a daily blog to let his friends know about his life in his new foster home. Please follow his adventures as he lives his life.